Wednesday, November 12, 2008

When we received our referral for Hanlin, lots of things happened that I couldn't blog about. Also while we were in China, "stuff" happened that again, I couldn't blog about.... BUT now that we're home, (and as of Friday, officially a Canadian Citizen), I can tell you the whole story!!Some people know bits of this so skip the part you might already know..

Now, let me see, where shall I start???

I posted back in April about receiving additional information from the foster family via a friend living in Beijing. What I didn't post about is that from April to September we were able to have webcams with the foster family. We were in constant contact with them. It was wonderful and really helped out Hanlin with the transition. He was calling us Mama and Baba before we ever left for China! He knew each of the girls by name, and would shout at them on the computer! He and Lily would chat and show each other their toys. He saw the inside of the house, the toy room and even outside!! When he arrived home, he ran to the playroom within 5 seconds of arriving. He knew where it was!!

We still sent pictures and a care package, but seeing him "in person" right after the referral was truly amazing.Since we got to know the foster family, we decided to spend an extra week in Tianjin meeting with them. (1 week before the actual "family day")We arrived on the first and on the 3rd, met Hanlin for the first time! They came to our hotel and we all ran to the lobby to greet them! It was a very emotional meeting, very happy!! We exchanged gifts, and many tears.. They gave us a photo album journaling his 4.5 years with them. To have baby photos is amazing!The foster parents soon left, but wanted us to take Hanlin and his foster sister (21yrs old) shopping for the day. We went sightseeing, shopping and had a good time. He was very wound up, and we found out that he was slightly addicted of pop (coke)! LOLWe had a few more days with the family, we went to the park another day, and we took them out for supper and we took a boat tour of the Tianjin river.When the actual adoption day happened, it was still very emotional!! Although I didn't cry right there, I held it together not only for Hanlin but for the foster parents.(But I lost it later in the van.) I kept hugging them telling them, we'll call..we'll e-mail... (and we have).This adoption wasn't anything like Lily's, just like the birth of the girls wasn't the same, its neat for each of them to have such different stories and they love to hear about them.All my pictures are still on the laptop, once I get them transferred over I'll post some pictures of our "secret week" hee hee

Hey MaTante Krista!Casey, mummy and I just got back from around your house (UNB to be exact) for a high school swim meet. Too bad we didn't let you know, you could have come to cheer us on! (JOKING!!!) I'm sure you guys had a blast in China for your "secret week". I'm so happy Hanlin is officially one of the greatest people in the world; CANADIEN!TTFN

Congratulations-I'm so pleased to hear that you slipped "under the wire" and found your very own adoption story. I know this must have been challenging and must have cost you a few grey hairs. I'm so pleased for your family. Hanlin is a cutie!